Large floor area, long opening hours

A shopping centre has an area that is hard to cover by hand and opening hours that leave few empty slots. In practice a scrubbing machine covers seven hundred to fourteen hundred square metres an hour, and where it lands inside that range depends on shelf density, island displays and the number of people in the way.

Working among customers

A machine that runs during opening hours needs laser and camera monitoring of its surroundings and has to drive more slowly than at night. A wet floor needs a warning sign, so daytime runs are in practice limited to the main aisles, and the full area is left for the hours after closing.

Infrastructure

The dock, the water point and the drain should be in the same part of the building as the area being cleaned. In a centre with several levels the robot needs access to the goods lift and a call interface, otherwise it stays shut on one floor. Wifi has to cover the aisles beside the racking, not only the open area.

An information robot at the entrance shows the floor plan, guides people to a shop and announces promotions. Its content is maintained by marketing, not by the technical team. For cleaning it is enough that two people per shift can start a plan, fill and empty the water and change the squeegee blade.